Sixth Station – Veronica offers her veil to Jesus

Psalm 17:15

I am grateful to Veronica for wiping the blood, sweat and dirt from my eyes.  She had not been as close to me in life as others, but she responded when I needed an act of kindness.  She was the last person in my earthly life to touch me in a gentle act of mercy…

You never know when an act of kindness you do will be the last one a person experiences.  So you should regard every opportunity for kindness as an act that may well last an eternity.  Think of that when you catch yourself saying you’re too busy to help others.

This single act of kindness toward me should not be considered in isolation.  Kindness is catching.  Kindness begets kindness.  Kindness is learned.  Do you think Veronica was the one who just happened to be at the right place at the right time for this one celebrated act of kindness?  No.  She had spent a lifetime learning to be gentle.  My face wasn’t the first – or the last – that she soothed.  You, too, cannot expect to be gentle in a crisis unless you have practiced gentleness so often that it starts to become almost natural.

Would you have wiped my face?  How can you say you would have done so if you had ignored a thousand troubled faces before you ever saw my face?